The present disclosure is related to energy storage. More specifically, the present disclosure is related to a device and method of discharging a battery to improve the safety of a used battery for disposal.
Energy storage devices, such as batteries, present hazards during disposal. Particularly, modern battery pack designs, for example lithium ion polymer battery packs, can overheat if disposed of in a conventional manner. This overheating can lead to risks of fire or explosion often during a conventional disposal, a battery pack is thrown away and disposed of in a landfill or collected by a municipal garbage collection. During this collection or disposal, the battery pack may be crushed or punctured. This causes shorts between the energy cells, creating the overheating condition that may result in fire or explosion.
One current solution to eliminate these risks are specialized battery collection and disposal procedures. However, these specialized procedures add unwanted time and expense to battery disposal requirements.